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Lewes on Bonfire Nights – they really go for it (Picture: Getty Images)

For most people in the UK, Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night or November 5 tends to be a fairly miserable affair. A few sparklers, the Catherine Wheel that won’t turn and a modest bonfire.

They do things differently in Lewes.

Otherwise a fairly sleepy and well-to-do town, not far from Brighton and dominating the Ouse valley, come ‘the Fifth’ and the place changes from calm to a hive of pyromania and dressing up.

Of course, Guy Fawkes Night is a commemoration of the failed gunpowder plot of 1605. And that event is given added importance because of the 17 protestant martyrs burnt in Lewes during the 16th century.

And under all that is a spirit of subversiveness and independence that serves to show that the people of Lewes ‘wun’t be druv.’

It’s a serious spectacle and the people of Lewes, that make up the seven Bonfire Societies, get up to some serious antics.

A burning tar barrel is dragged through town in the procession and when it arrives at the bridge crossing the River Ouse it’s pitched in with great ceremony.

Health and safety nightmare, yes. But also a pure symbol of independence and reflective of the Pagan rituals of Samhain.

Dress up

Dressing up is important (Picture: Getty Images)

As Vikings, Cavaliers, Smugglers or all sorts. The parade is a riot of elaborate costumes and clothing with many of the get-ups real works of art.

The tradition of dressing up has a serious history: in the past when the November 5th celebrations were suppressed, the Bonfire Boys continued regardless but in disguise.

Burn the enemies of the bonfire

They don’t pull their punches. One year they burnt Angela Merkel (Picture: Getty Images)

You’re spotting the theme here. The people of Lewes love burning effigies on Bonfire Night. And if Guy Fawkes and a Pope aren’t enough, they like to burn those people they deem to be the Enemies of the Bonfire.

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They are then burned in effigy either as a giant tableau or by having their head fashioned on a stake.

Leap over the flames

Right at the end of the night, down at the bottom of Cliffe High Street, flaming torches are thrown to the ground across the width of the road forming a long bonfire.

Then the people of the Bonfire Societies take it in turn to leap over and through the flames. And yes, it is decidedly dangerous.